Bill Botting and the Two Drink Minimums - Better Friends

In which Allo Darlin's Bill Botting swaps his (metaphorical) stripy t-shirt for a (very real) trucker cap and plaid shirt. Better Friends is a country rock album that's written to be played on the radio and listened to in the car with the windows wound down.

These songs - they're all hits - have the southern rock punch of Tom Petty, the careworn intimacy of Neil Young's ballads and the maudlin melodies of The Go-Betweens' Tallulah.

Bill's assembled a crack band (including Darren Hayman and members of The Wave Pictures and Tigercats) and these titular better friends make the album so much fun.

They're clearly having a brilliant time, not least on Treating You Right's backing vocal pay-off line "he's an asshole, yes he's an asshole", and lifting Hanson's MmmBop and running it through a lap steel on Know You When.

The one misstep on this album is a cover of Paul Simon's Graceland. Not because it's too close to the original (although it is, even if Bill changes the lyric about his travelling companion's age to match his child's age) but because it's too close to what Bill did with Allo Darlin.

What this album does is give Bill Botting a new path after Allo Darlin's success. Anyone who saw Allo Darlin will know well how much Bill enjoys being on stage. Better Friends suggests different ways that Bill can enjoy making music while entertaining us richly. What's that line from Bye Bye Pride? The door is always open wide.